Taken from Darkhorizons.com

Deadline Hollywood reports that Paramount Pictures and Ben Stiller are re-teaming for a sequel to the 2001 cult comedy smash "Zoolander".

Actor-turned-writer Justin Theroux, who penned "Tropic Thunder" and "Iron Man 2", will co-write the script with Stiller and potentially direct the follow-up.

The hope is Owen Wilson will return but nothing is set, though Jonah Hill ("Superbad," "Get Him to the Greek") is apparently in negotiations to play the villain.

Zoolander part 2? Nice. All together now, let's see your best Magnums...

Here is the second trailer for the remake of "A Nightmare on Elm Street". I have to say, I quite like it. I don't particularly like the look of the kids, they're just a little too glossy for my liking, but as for everything else, I think it looks pretty promising. Freddy looks great, sounds great and doesn't appear to be copying Robert Englund and could quite well make this his own. I also love how all the elements from previous films are there, especially in the dinner with the neon green and red lights. You know Freddy's-a-coming!

Any thoughts?

More posters and a trailer for the Nightmare on Elm Street remake

Here is the poster for the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street. It stars Jackie Earle Haley (Rorschach from Watchmen) as the new Freddie Kruger, and while it takes elements from the original, it appears to add something new to the Freddy Kruger mythology. Have a look at the trailer also. Any thoughts?

Movie Review - The Wolfman

The Wolfman is a film I have been interested in seeing for a long time, but not for entirely positive reasons. The Wolfman is a remake of George Waggner’s 1941 original The Wolf Man, and by all accounts was due to be released in cinemas in 2007. Then in February 2009. Then in November 2009. Finally being released this month. The scheduling conflicts were not the only problems for The Wolfman. The films original director, Mark Romanek, left only 4 weeks before the start of principal photography to be replaced by Joe Johnston. Johnston’s last film was 7 years ago. Add to this the need to film extensive reshoots due to gaping holes in the plot, all did not look good for The Wolfman.

I was lucky enough to see some of the re-shoots as we were shooting some scenes for Harry Potter at Pinewood at the same time, and I thought the sets looked great. Needless to say, for all these reasons I was intrigued to see it and decided to be positive about the film. But with so many changes and distractions, could the film live up to it’s hype actually be any good? Well, for me, the answer is yes and no.

The film is a loose remake of the 1941, in which traveling actor Lawrence Talbot, Benicio Del Toro, returns to his family home after receiving word about his brother’s death. Mystery surrounds the murder, with talk of a bear or some kind of beast being the main suspect. Talbot decides to investigate himself, but is also attacked by the beast and subsequently transforms into a lycanthropic monster at the sight of a full moon, devouring local villagers. Rather than embrace his curse, he hates what he has becomes and once caught and taken to a London mental institution, he tries to figure out where the curse came from, and how he can change it. Once back in the countryside, he confronts his father played by Anthony Hopkins, and with the help of Gwen Conliffe played by Emily Blunt, he tries to confront his curse head on and take back his humanity.

Despite what you might have heard, The Wolfman is not a terrible movie. It was refreshing to see a horror film that has decided to take it roots from the classic horror films of old. The look and feel of the film is great. Being set in a quaint little village with huge meandering trees, grand old houses and weary villagers, one cannot help but think of films such as The Wolfman, Dracula and Frankenstein. Here, the sets and locations act as characters themselves. The last film I can think of that did this so well was Tim Burton’s Sleepy Hollow.



The Special Effects in particular are another plus of the film. Everyone will always compare movie werewolf transformations to John Landis’ An American Warewolf in London (and rightly so) but Rick Baker’s wolf man effects have certainly pushed the genre forward. The transformation scenes certainly display the pain and agony that it must feel to take part in such a change. You can literally hear the bones cracking and see Benicio Del Toro’s body twist and contorts as his body structure changes. We see his human teeth pushed out of his mouth to be replaced by the teeth of the beast. You can really feel and believe the pain he is going through as he succumbs to the demon within. Director Joe Johnston provides an interesting touch by giving The Wolfman the options of running on two legs like a man, or acting like the beast it is by running like the wind on all fours. Although the transformations aren’t on screen long enough, nor if truth be told is the wolf, you cannot wait for the next full moon to see the beast again. And here in lies the films main problem.


Everything in between the wolfman transforming, prowling or killing, The Wolfman is just….well, just a little bit boring. It’s a werewolf film, so it is not like there is going to be any confusion or ambiguity in what is going to happen in the story, but everything else just feels rushed and slightly incoherent.

I can’t believe I am going to say this, but I believe the guiltiest party in this is Sir Anthony Hopkins. Who knows what direction he was given, but he is so lethargic in his performance that it feels like he is either supposed to be drunk or tired. He just meanders his way through his scenes like he doesn’t really want to be there. Like I said, maybe this was the directors intention to contrast his mannerisms from his human form to his lycan form, but I really doubt this was the case. The rest of the cast do as well as they can with the below par script. Benicio Del Toro is fully believable as The Wolfman as he has that crazy look in his eye before he even gets bitten. Emily blunt is great as the beautiful damsel but fails miserably to find any real connection with Del Toro, and Hugo Weaving does his best impression of Dick Van Dyke with an over the top cockney accent, as the suave Inspector Abberline. To be fair to him, he does have a cracking mustache.

If you take into consideration the sheer number of problems The Wolfman overcame just to make it to the screen, it has to be seen as a success. While there are many plusses to come out of the film, such as the wolfman effects, it ultimately feels like a mishmash of incoherent scenes that are missing that little something extra. And like the film itself, it ultimately feels like it could have done with just a little more bite. And yes, that was supposed to be a joke. I apologise in advance.

Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro to reunite?

Tis' a very good day my friends, a very good day indeed. The word on the street from the Berlin Film Festival, is that Robert De Niro and Martin Scorsese are planning to reunite for a 10th time, returning to the world of the mafia. A world in which they work so well.
Speaking at the premiere of his Lastest film, Shutter Island, in which he is working with Leonardo DiCaprio for the 4th time, Scorsese said:


"Bob De Niro (and I) are talking about something that has to do with that world, there's no doubt about that. We're working on something like that, but it's from the vantage point of older men looking back, none of this running around stuff." - Reuters. The last film the pair collaborated on was 1995's Casino.

For some reason, the rumour mill has been suggesting that the next time Scorsese and
De Niro team up, will be to ressurect one of their classic creations in Travis Bickle for a Taxi Driver sequel - though I can't seem to find any proof of this anywhere. After searching imdb pro, it seems like the most possible scenerio at the moment would be a film called I Heard You Paint Houses to be released in 2011. Again, according to the imdb, the story is as follows:

"[Based on the book by Steve Zaillian] A mob hit man recalls his possible involvement with the slaying of Jimmy Hoffa."



Considering what Scorsese has said, this sounds likely to be the most plausible option. I can't imagine why he would want to revisit some of his best work. Like the old saying goes "If it isn't broken, don't fix it". I can understand if Robert De Niro wanted to go back, however. But he should leave his greatest roles well alone. If it is to be I Heard You Paint Houses, i think sounds like a great project for everyone. Leonardo DiCaprio as a younger De Niro, anyone?

So, to conclude, i would like to get a poll going. What is your favourite Scorsese - De Niro collaboration and why?

Answers on a postcard please...

Movie Review - A Serious Man

There are generally two types of Coen brothers film. On the one hand you have your comedies. They are extremely dark in tone and humour, but are still comedies none the less. Raising Arizona, Intolerable Cruelty and O’ Brother Where art Thou? are perfect examples. Then you have your more serious type of Coen Brothers film. Blood Simple, No Country For Old Men and The Man Who Wasn’t There. A Serious Man is smack bang in the middle of these two styles. It is humourous, without being too funny, it is serious, without being depressing, and it might well be my new favourite Coen Brothers film.

The film centres around Larry Gopnik, played by Michael Sthulberg, who is going through some what of a mid-life crisis. The film begins with him getting a medical. His son is in trouble for listening to rock music. His wife asks for a divorce because she is involved with another man, even though there is no “whoopsy doopsy” involved. All of this taking place in the first 10 mintues of the film. What follows is his journey to find his place in life and his attempts to be closer to his family even though his wife is pushing him further and further away. He has to deal with his childlike older brother, problems with his job, his lust for his next door neighbour and his distant children. Not too mention his money problems due to his impending divorce. This is Larry's test.

I know I am a bit late in writing about A Serious Man - I just never got around to seeing it as I live in Watford and they don’t tend to show many art films (though they are still showing Alvin and the Chipmunks 2, I kid you not!) - but I am glad I finally caught it as I thought it was brilliant. I just loved everything about it. The direction, the writing, the acting, the production design, the music,…absolutely everything. All the elements that make the Coen brothers modern great auteurs were present. For example, the seemingly normal characters with abnormal undertones, or odd characters and plain strange incidents. And just like most Coen Brothers films, people talk a great deal, but no one really listens.

On the surface, A Serious Man is a film about faith as we follow Larry through the film whilst he feels like he is being tested. He tries to talking to Rabbis for advice but they are no help. Larry is losing his faith just as his son is about to get his. Larry is a strange mix by being deeply religious but a man of science at the same. When we first see Larry teach, he is describing Schrödinger’s 1935 hypothetical experiment that consisted of a cat in a sealed box with a vial of poison that could break at any random time. Until the box was opened, since no one knew whether or not the poison had been released, the cat was considered both dead and alive at the same time. This is how we feel about Larry. He is alive, yet he is dead. He cannot find his faith. His family treat him as if he isn’t there even though he wants to be and no one is taking him seriously. As Larry gets his life back together again, you feel he might have finally found the right path. It appears as if his wife will take him back, his son has been confirmed and his job is safe. Unfortunately for Larry, in his fails final, and probably fatal, test he caves in to monetary pressures and decides to take a bribe. At this precise moment, the phone rings. It’s his doctor. He wants him to come in right away. What will happen? Like Larry, we don’t know. Like Schrödinger’s cat, he is both dead and yet very much alive at the same time. One thing we do know however, is that a storm is coming.


Every shot in the film feels like it has a purpose and some resonance behind it. Even though the film is slow and well crafted, there is never a point where you feel bored or like you want to do anything other than stare at the screen to see what is coming next. Every camera angle intrigues you. Whether it be a blurred haze of pot smokers, or the slow crafted long shot looking into the head Rabbi’s office.


We are purposely not told what year the film is set in, but it is comfortable middle America where most of the Coen Brothers work take place. Similarly to Fargo, or The Man Who Wasn’t There, we are presented with the typical white picket fence houses and blue skies, but deep down all is not well in most peoples lives. In the surreal nature of A Serious Man, dreams are blurred with reality. Whether it be conversations with Koreans, his sexy lone neighbour to his left or Rabbi’s reciting Jefferson Airplane, there is something going on beneath the façade of humility.

Michael Sthulberg is excellent as Larry Gopnik. He is indeed the serious man while everyone around him appears to be losing their cool or appear to be slightly off key. It is heart breaking to him constantly try and do the right thing. You really feel his pain as he tries to do what’s best, but much to the credit of Michael Sthulberg, it can be infuriating watching him do so. You just want to scream at the screen “STOP! STOP IT! YOU DON’T HAVE TO PAY FOR YOUR WIFE’S NEW LOVER’S FUNERAL! YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE SO NICE ALL THE TIME!”

There were some great performances from the supporting cast. Larry’s brother, Arthur, is a loveable but flawed buffoon. The kids are believable. ‘Curse bus boy’ had me in fits everytime he was on the screen and his son, who is his parallel in the film, does a good job at being spoilt and cares about nothing except weed, TV and music. But it is Fred Melamed who excels as the new love of Larry’s wife, Sy Abelman. Melamed exudes charm, authority and at times sleaziness. He doesn’t even need to be on screen to cast a presence. Even when we only hear him on the phone it is still a joy.

While A Serious Man might not please everyone with it’s surreal nature and quirky characters, not to mention the outright Jewish-ness of the film, I found it a joy reveling in the downright oddities of the film. It is brilliantly crafted, looks great, is perfectly edited and has a great soundtrack and score. Do not be blindly by it’s overt religious nature, as this is a story for everybody, and it asks everyone who watches “How will you deal with your own crisis?” and “How will you cope if you feel you are being tested?”. When that time comes it will ultimately be up to us, but for now, I’ll happily watch Larry Gopnik go through his. As happy as you can be about that sort of thing, of course.

Lost Recap – Season 6 Episode 2: What Kate Does

By Dean Crawford

Last weeks episode ‘LAX – Parts 1 and 2’ were an interesting affair. It was heavily plot driven and full of action. Whilst the episode answered a lot of questions, as you would imagine, it also raised several more. Needless to say I was very excited about this week’s episode ‘What Kate Does’. That was until I finally twigged that this episode would be about my least favourite character, Kate. Then after 5 minutes, I lost all hope, as it would also follow my second least favourite character, Claire. Oh the joy! I know there is a lot of hate on the inter-web for Kate and the way she can come across as heartless in the show, and she gets a bad rap from a lot of die hards for the holy-trinity love triangle. I don’t really care too much for that either, but that’s not the reason I dislike her. I just think her story is boring. As for Claire, I do actually find her story really interesting. The whole first season “you alone must raise this baby” thing I liked. I just can’t stand Emilie de Ravin. She is so whiney and acts hysterical in every single thing she does. And what is the deal with her accent? I know she lived in Australia for nearly twenty years, but her Aussie accent sounds fake, with hints of American thrown in which led me to think she was American. But then you see her in things like Brick, and her American accent sounds fake! Hers isn’t as bad as her mothers accent on the show though. She is supposed to be an Aussie, but keeps on running into hints of Eliza Doolittle! “Ell-ohhhh DOC-TAR SHIP-ERRRRD, moi’ glass o’water is your sister…ya flaming mungrel” Speaking of fake accents, don’t get me started on the portrayal of English accents on Lost. JUST GET A BLOODY ENGLISH PERSON TO PLAY THE ROLE!! Phew. No that’s over, onto the episode…

The episode begins with a close up on feet hurrying in the caves as John Lennon races to the Japanese leader and tells him that “He’s alive!”. The look of shock on Dogen’s face is palpable and we know instantly that this is going to be a big deal. Sayid awakes to the excitement of everyone in the cave except Miles who still can’t understand his journey. Miles can tell something is up, as last week he couldn’t sense anything from Sayid after he died. Jack tells Sayid straight up that he died. Kate can’t fathom how this is even possible, (but apparently the fact that they can travel through time isn’t that much of an issue) but Sawyer isn’t surprised at all and his first thought is escaping. Perfect cue for a flashback on Kate.

Kate’s flash sideways is fairly straightforward but there are a few things to look into. Firstly, Kate is still the same in this time line. She is still running, still shouting, still getting into trouble. As she orders the cab driver to speed off, she makes sure Claire stays with her, but something interesting happens when she sees Jack. There is a long, knowing glance of recognition to her face. It might be because of the fact she recognized him as the guy she stole the pen from on the plane, but I think we can safely deduce after Jack’s recognition of Desmond last week, that the Losties are remembering each other, and are remember things from their other lives. The question that needs to be asked then, is why wouldn’t she have recognized him on the plane? Creative reasons? I read an interesting theory that suggested that in their original time line, Kate and Jack hadn’t yet met each other at this point and shared that moment on the beach stitching up Jack. Therefore their parallel universe hadn’t kicked in yet. So by the time she sees Jack in the taxi, they would met each other on the beach, hence the recognition. But then you could argue why does Kate feel need to help Claire give birth like she did in season one when this also wouldn’t have happened for weeks? I’m thinking destiny is destiny, and no matter what may have happened before, the end game is the same for everybody. So no matter what, Kate will always be involved with Claire and Aaron.

Kate disposes of Claire and manages to find another ex-com who just so happens to understand the complexities of removing handcuffs. Lucky for her! Even luckier for Claire though, is that Kate happens to be driving by as she is waiting for a bus to see the prospective adopters who haven’t come to pick her up. Unfortunately for Claire, they have ditched her so it appears Claire will have to raise the baby herself. This again raises similarities to her on story in Season one. If you recall, it was the Psychic, Richard Malkin, who insisted that Claire raised the baby herself. When he felt like this might not happen, he bought her a ticket to LA as he knew of a couple that would adopt the baby. This is why she was on the plane in the first place. We were lead to believe that Malkin knew the plane would crash, hence forcing Claire to raise Aaron herself. Malkin later admitted he was a fraud to Mr. Ecko when he visited his daughter who drowned. But I think this was for Ecko’s benefit and is a psychic. As for this timeline? We are still yet to find out what brought Claire to the island.

Fate rears its ugly head as Claire goes into labour forcing Kate to see her through labour just like she did on the island. And destiny is at work once again as Ethan is a doctor at the hospital and will take care of Aaron before he is born. Under duress, Claire blurts out Aaron’s name for the first time. It just came to her. So it seems Aaron’s destiny was to always be named so, and to always have Kate and Ethan involved in his birth. And it seems that Claire’s destiny, is to scream, shout and be hysterical every chance she gets.

The police arrive to look for Kate, but Claire throws them off the scent. The two biggest things to come out of this scene, and the whole flash sideways in my opinion, are A) Kate tells Claire that she should raise the baby herself, which I think she will now do. And B) Kate brings up the possibility that she may be innocent. This could be Kate’s attempt at trying to con Claire to get her onboard somehow, but as we have already seen in this timeline, things are drastically different. Take Hugo for example. He is now the luckiest man alive, which is the total opposite from his original timeline. So maybe Kate is innocent. I still feel like she would have had to have done something wrong to have the Feds after her, but something is definitely different.

As Kate leaves, one thought remained in my head the whole time, which was “would we see another Kate and Claire reunion?” If the characters are all going to repeat their actions over and over again no matter what, then doesn’t Kate have to be the one to assist in Aaron’s birth?

Now, back on the island. Sayid is alive, but not for much longer you would think after the look like Sawyer gave him. Sawyer is obviously deeply upset because if the ‘Iraqi torturer who shoots kids’ deserves a second chance, why not Juliet? There might be a philosophical answer to that question, and one that many people theorized back from day one. If you know your bible, and I don’t, Revelation 21:27 states that nothing unclean will enter Heaven. To cleanse oneself you have to enter purgatory, which is a lot how the island feels. What if Sawyer is wrong in thinking that Sayid has been given a second chance whilst Juliet has been left to die. What if Juliet has been allowed to pass on as she has come to terms with everything she has done and has absolved herself. She made amends for all her sins by sacrificing her own life in pushing the reset button and detonating the bomb. She has served her purpose and is allowed to die, much in the same way Michael wasn’t allowed to leave/die until he fulfilled his purposed and sacrificed himself. Sayid was terrified last week of dying, and was sure he was going to hell. So what if Sayid still has one more task to complete before he can be let go? Now I don’t believe that the island is purgatory itself, but the allusions that are being made and the similarities are striking.

Sayid’s joy at returning from the dead is short lived however, as the other’s have plans for him and need to ask a few questions. Unfortunately for Sayid, their style of questioning is unlike anything you would find Bamber Gascoigne attempting on University challenge, as it involves black ash, electrocuting the nipples and a hot poker on the chest. Now I am sure there are a few people reading this who would pay for a service like that, but our man Sayid is faithful to Nadia. The ensuing fight gives Sawyer the chance to escape as he tells them he is leaving and there is nothing they can do to stop him. This scene is very significant as it is the first time Dogen publicly speaks English, adding gravitas to his words. The fact that Sawyer tells them he’s leaving and they just let him is also significant, but more on that later. Sawyer tells Kate not to come after him. So this means that Kate is going to go after him. Yawn.

But in the words of poor old Sayid “Why…? Why are you doing this?”. What are these tests for? What do they want to know and how will their methods help them achieve their results? I think the second they blew the dust on him, we could tell that they wanted to see if he had returned from the dead “bad”. The ash has been used to keep the smoke monster out, so were they trying to test if the smoke monster is inside him? I can’t think what the electricity or hot poker where for, maybe to test his reaction to pain? The smoke monster can’t travel through the Dharma Initiative’s sonar fence, so maybe electricity is a way of catching him out. Either way, it turns out that Sayid is sick. He has been infected or “claimed” as Dogen puts it. If it is Jacob or The Man in Black inside Sayid, there have been hints to this already. Sayid just isn’t acting like himself at the moment. I found it very strange when Sayid became frightened and scared, not like his usual bad-ass self when they were torturing him. The way he said “I don’t have any secrets” seemed rather odd, therefore leads me to believe he does have secrets! Tell us those secrets, Sayid. TELL US!

Jack goes to find answers from Dogen and John Lennon, but in typical Lost fashion, he doesn’t get a straight answer. He tells the guards to let him through and they part for him like Moses parted the red sea so can talk to Dogen who finally reveals himself. Their conversation goes as follows.

Jack: Who are you?
Dogen: My name is Dogen.
Jack: Are you from here, the island?
Dogen: I was brought here, like everyone else.
Jack: What do you mean, brought here?
Dogen: You know exactly what I mean…

I find this conversation interesting because why should Jack know exactly what he means? Jack was brought to the island by Desmond. He subsequently came back because of his new found faith due to John Locke. Didn’t the rest of them come to the island through the Dharma Initiative? Or is he talking about Jacob bringing him to the island? Dogen seems to be quite old school, so I get the impression that he might have been around for a long time. Longer than most. So did the black Rock bring him here? I see him as a Richard type character?

They tell him that Sayid is sick and give him the pill that will make him better. I wasn’t sure whether to believe him or not as I knew something was up with Sayid. They tell Jack he has to be the one who gives Sayid the pill as he wouldn’t accept it from them, and it has to be his choice to take it. Choice seemed to be an issue flowing through the whole episode. Sawyer wanted to leave, so they let him. Kate has to be the one to bring Sawyer back as it has to be his own choice to return. Dogen and John Lennon wanted Jack to come and see them on his own. Sayid has to take the pill willingly. This has been a reoccurring theme for a while now, because if you remember when it came to Ben’s spinal surgery, he couldn’t just force Jack to do it. He wanted him to “want to do it”. Again, when Ben didn’t want to let Jack and Juliet leave in season 3, he couldn’t stop them. But John Locke blew up the sub for him. I think there is something going on in the island that has to do with free will and choices and influence, but I am not too sure what that is yet.

Jack does not trust the others, and thankfully demands some answers. In showing Dogen an alternative method of Seppuku, he swallows the pill himself to gaze Dogens reaction. Yep, it was poison all along! Take that Dogen! The conversation after goes as follows.

Dogen: We believe he has been claimed.
Jack: Claimed? By What?
Dogen: There is a darkness growing in him, and once it reaches his
heart everything your friend once was will be gone.
Jack: How can you be sure of that?
Dogen: Because it happened to your sister!

DUM DUM DUM!!!! I thought this was a great way to end the temple part of the episode, as you would almost be forgiven for forgetting that Jack and Claire are siblings. I’m hoping the return of Claire will mean that we are finally going to get a meeting between Jack and his father. It better bloody happen otherwise there is a very strongly worded letter that is going to be sent to somebody, I can tell you!!

The way Dogen was talking about Sayid’s symptoms was very similar to the way Rousseau used to describe her crew when they first arrived on the island. We even got to see this first hand last season when Jin ran into Rosseau and her crew during his adventures in time-travel. They too became “sick” and “infected” and it seemed as if a “darkness” came over them. This was caused by an encounter with the smoke monster. So is it the smoke monster’s fault again that Sayid is being possessed? This sounds a lot like what Richard said to Kate when he cured Ben. He said he would never be the same again. It looks as if the same can be said of Sayid. Is it the island as a whole that causes the sickness? The spring? Jacob? How did it also happen to Claire? Did she die at the barracks back in season 4 then come back to life infected? Once again, more and more questions.

While al this is going on at the temple, Kate escapes from the others to find Sawyer. She reveals that her intentions are to find Claire and try to make up for what she has done. Jin’s intentions are to find his wife. Apart from the game of cat and mouse, one thing of interest is said. Aldo, whose sole purpose was to act like a total arse hole the whole episode so we would be happy when he got shot, wants to kill Jin. He partner, Justin, tells him not too as he might be “one of them”. Hmm, very interesting? One of whom? Someone special? Is this going back to the days of Jacob and his lists? Does “them” mean the people on Jacob’s list? The people Jacob has seen during the years? Are they “candidates” like Ilana spoke of last year? We know that Sayid’s name was on the list given to Dogen, and we presume the rest of our Losties names are on there also during their role call. It seems that Sawyers name is on that list also, as this would explain his desire for him to stay at the temple. If so, what could Jacob want them for? Is there an end game that requires them all and if so, what is it? I couldn’t fathom a guess at the moment, as I’m not even sure if Jacob is one of the good guys are not.

Just as Jin was about to get shot, Aldo and Justin get smoked. By who? Well none other than Claire! There are several questions to be asked about Claire. For example, where has she been this time? Has she been traveling through time with the rest of the Losties? What about this darkness that has taken over her? Is she good or bad? To be honest, I don’t really care. I just want to see how her reappearance has affected the people around her ie. Christian Shepherd, Locke, Jacob.

So, not a terrible episode, but not a great one either. The lack of Locke (or Flocke as he is now known as Fake + Locke) was a real downer but we still got some more answers there are some more questions raised.

1. Where has Claire been this whole time? How did she learn so many of Rosseau’s tricks?
2. In the alternate timeline, what brought Claire to LA?
3. Will we see a Kate and Claire reunion?
4. Who or what has claimed Sayid? What is the darkness?
5. What does “one of them” mean?
6. How will it end?

How will it end? How will it end? How will it end……

Lost Recap and Analysis – LAX parts 1 and 2

by Dean Crawford

Lost is back, Baby!! As I’ve previously posted (http://thekinkyafro.tumblr.com/#365037822 ), I was very excited for Lost’s return. Now it’s back, and we have 18 episodes to go on what has been one of the biggest TV shows of the last 10 years. I’m not saying it is the best, but it has definitely been one of the biggest. You either love it or hate. And no matter what you say, it has had a such an influence on most TV watchers.

Right, i’m going to quickly recap the first two episodes, give a few thoughts, share a few theories that are going around and hopefully we can add our own thoughts and have a bit of online discussion about it and throughout the season each week.

I liked the fact that right away we were shown the affect of the bomb going off. We were right back where we started and shown an alternate reality. One in which Oceanic flight 815 didn’t crash. We have had flash-backs, flash-forwards, now have the “flash-sideways”. I personally like this idea. I have always wondered what the losties lives would have been like if they crash hadn’t of happened, now we are set to find out. Right at the start of the episode we are introduced to all our favourite characters once again. (As a side note, it appears as if the Lost producers theory could be steeped in reality and I think partially based on string theory. Have a butchers at this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/paralleluni.shtml )

Jack’s back - but this time with longer hair than he had 3 years ago. Has Jack changed so much in this alternate reality, that he no longer shaves his head? Or is it that he has to keep it long for continuity in the on-island story line?

Desmond - It was nice seeing him so soon, but sadly i feel that will be the last we see of him. In this time line he is married. To Penny? Quite possibly. If you feel showing us the island submerged in water is confirmation that the bomb went off in this time-line, then there would have been no Widmore to screw with desmonds life. No Widmore, no boat race. It was interesting to see how Desmond’s appearance sparked a sense of deja vu in Jack. It’s like he remembers something from his past, or his alternate reality. Will this happen for all the characters? As a side note, the book he was reading was “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie which, accordiang to Wikipedia, is about a city so old that it’s name has been forgotten. Sound familiar? There’s also “an electromagnetic device intended to destroy the ocean” which again fits it with what has just happened in the finale of Season 5.

Rose – Shorter hair but it’s the same wise old Rose. Did anyone else get the feeling that she has an idea about what’s going on? She seemed a little bit defensive when Jack asked if she had seen Desmond. Maybe she knows how special Desmond has been in the past. Or maybe Desmond was never really there but she didn’t want to engage in his craziness. She also looked very happy. Is her cancer cured, or did it never happen?

Locke is the same old Locke unfortunately – Lying about what a great hunter-gatherer he is when we know that the people on the walkabout wouldn’t let him on the plane. Or did they? Ooooooohhhhh???

Hurley - In this alternate reality, Hurley is now the luckiest man alive and loves the money he has won. I’m guessing it’s because the island in this timeline has been destroyed so he never got a chance to use the numbers from the island to play on the lottery.

Kate – Still running. It seems as if she is still the same and is on the exact same path as before. Kate bores me. Zzzz. Next!

Sawyer – Sawyer seems less angry. Did he kill the real Sawyer in Australia. I’m guessing he wouldn’t have met Jacob in this time-line, therefore didn’t get the pen and the motivation to keep writing his letter. He seems a bit too nice if you ask me and I think he was eyeing up Hurley for a con.

Jin and Sun - Good news for Sun! The bomb didn’t go off so now she can get back with the old misogynistic Jin back who berates her in public for showing the slightest amount of flesh. Hooray! Were they still on the same timeline? Was Sun still going to leave Jin. No English! No English? Does this mean she never cheated on Jin?

The Cameos – It was good seeing Charlie back again, still in seemingly pissed off rock star mode as he tells Jack “I was supposed to die”. Yeah, choking on a bag of heroin without even getting the full benefits of shooting some up…great way to go! Boone was back, but without his sister which was a shame. But then again, I doubt she would have been able to wear her bikini on the plane so who cares! Charlie was on the same journey, but not Boone. Hmm, interesting. Claire came back in the end but we didn’t see if she was pregnant or not. Artz was back for a cameo as was “Froghurt”.

But you know who was missing? Michael and Walt. Not to mention Ecko, Anna-Lucia, the big gaping plot hole that is Libby. She was in a mental home with hurley and gave Desmond his boat for Christ sake! Is there not going to be even the slightest mention of that again? Maybe in this timeline those guys never get on the plane. Or maybe the producers couldn’t afford one too many cameos.

Another thing I’m liking about the sideways plot line, is that it is in keeping with the “Whatever happened, happened” theory. Things are destined to repeat themselves no matter what. There have been so many coincidences during the previous 5 seasons of lost. It looks like things are on a loop, and no matter what timeline or path the characters take, it is their destiny to meet each other. In this new, alternate timeline, we still have Jack and Desmond coming together. Boone and Locke still form a bond and he even says “if this thing crashes, I’m sticking with you”. The FBI agent still gets his head bashed in. Claire and Kate have still come together though we don’t yet know if this will involve Aaron. Though some people are special and can remember certain things, hence the déjà vu, while others just follow there designed scripts. Is this what the producers had intended the whole time? Or have they just been reading the imdb Lost forums and decided to pick whatever theory they though fit the best and decided to take the show in that direction for the final season?

Righto, briefly onto the on-island stuff.

Hurley – sees Jacob and he tells them where to go.

Juliet – dies AGAIN! Though she does have a Charlotte moment where she appears to be traveling through time as she is about to die. “We should get coffee…”. One thing I’m wondering here is that if she did set the bomb off and destroy the hatch, just like Desmond did at the end of Season 2, why has she been killed and Desmond wasn’t? Will she back in the future?

Miles – Still talking to the dead which I like to see. Tells Sawyer Juliet said “It worked!”. So is she a ghost floating around now?

We then come across another set of OTHERS. Yep, there are more others out there. These guys have no time for small talk and would have killed our group unless Hurley mentioned Jacob. This set of others seem far removed from the Dharma others that lived in the barracks. Do they even know of each other? What have they been doing this whole time? The guy with glasses looked a little like John Lennon, right? This group seem like an original set of others, but then Cindy the flight attendant is there so I am not too sure about that.

Hurley’s guitar case – we find out it was carrying an ankh, which is the symbol of eternal life. Inside is a note which pretty much says save Sayid.

Well, they didn’t do too good a job of that, as they actually drown him instead. It seemed weird, but I didn’t think jack did a very good job of trying to bring Sayid back to life. I remember in Season one he spent about 10 minutes trying to bring Charlie back, and he had been dead much longer than Sayid.

So, is Sayid really dead? Is he still the same Sayid? Is he Jacob? Was the hourglass used because that was the length of time someone has to be purged before they can be reborn? Is he Jacob? If he isn’t Jacob, what about these risks? Will he turn evil like Ben? I’m looking forward to finding out.

And last but not least, the scene with “Locke”. It was awesome seeing what most people had been theorizing, that this Locke/Man in black was in fact the smoke monster. He also tells us his motives. He simply wants to go home. Where is his home? We learned last year that the smoke monster lives in the temple and that it is a security system. This is puzzling, because once the others in the temple find out the man in black is back (I’m sure there is a song in there somewhere…), they go crazy and start laying down the black ash we saw at the cabin to protect themselves. Why has it now changed? I’m guessing that without a human form, he is controllable, like we saw with Ben in season 4. Maybe the temple is it’s home, and he wants it back.

Why couldn’t the smoke monster have done this before though? And was the man in black living in the cabin the whole time? If so, how did he become trapped with Ash in the cabin? When did he break out as he’s been flying around judging people for ages now. Who broke the ash circle? And if Ben and John have been looking for the cabin this whole time, does that mean it was the man in black, and not Jacob in there every time we have visited it?

More and more questions raised and not a lot of time left to answer them in. Some other thoughts/Questions

• Have all the flashbacks/forwards thus far been alternate realities also?
• Is it 2004?
• Is Jack’s cut on his neck real?
• How different from their original timeline is this flash sideways timeline for each character?
• Will we see Desmond, Rose, Bernard, Charlie and Boone again?
• Why do we still have the 2004-on island storyline? I like seeing the what might have happened storyline, but why are we still on the island if Juliet’s effort to blow up the bomb worked?

So, this season we have two realities existing side by side, but which one will prevail. I really can’t wait to see how they wrap everything up. Only 16 more episodes to go!

So, what do you all think? Any thoughts, discussions, ideas, suggestions? Agree with anything I’ve said? Disagree? Think I’m a full of sh…?

Peace.

Lost Recap and Analysis – LAX parts 1 and 2

by Dean Crawford

Lost is back, Baby!! As I’ve previously posted (http://thekinkyafro.tumblr.com/#365037822 ), I was very excited for Lost’s return. Now it’s back, and we have 18 episodes to go on what has been one of the biggest TV shows of the last 10 years. I’m not saying it is the best, but it has definitely been one of the biggest. You either love it or hate. And no matter what you say, it has had a such an influence on most TV watchers.

Right, i’m going to quickly recap the first two episodes, give a few thoughts, share a few theories that are going around and hopefully we can add our own thoughts and have a bit of online discussion about it and throughout the season each week.

I liked the fact that right away we were shown the affect of the bomb going off. We were right back where we started and shown an alternate reality. One in which Oceanic flight 815 didn’t crash. We have had flash-backs, flash-forwards, now have the “flash-sideways”. I personally like this idea. I have always wondered what the losties lives would have been like if they crash hadn’t of happened, now we are set to find out. Right at the start of the episode we are introduced to all our favourite characters once again. (As a side note, it appears as if the Lost producers theory could be steeped in reality and I think partially based on string theory. Have a butchers at this - http://www.bbc.co.uk/science/horizon/2001/paralleluni.shtml )

Jack’s back - but this time with longer hair than he had 3 years ago. Has Jack changed so much in this alternate reality, that he no longer shaves his head? Or is it that he has to keep it long for continuity in the on-island story line?

Desmond - It was nice seeing him so soon, but sadly i feel that will be the last we see of him. In this time line he is married. To Penny? Quite possibly. If you feel showing us the island submerged in water is confirmation that the bomb went off in this time-line, then there would have been no Widmore to screw with desmonds life. No Widmore, no boat race. It was interesting to see how Desmond’s appearance sparked a sense of deja vu in Jack. It’s like he remembers something from his past, or his alternate reality. Will this happen for all the characters? As a side note, the book he was reading was “Haroun and the Sea of Stories” by Salman Rushdie which, accordiang to Wikipedia, is about a city so old that it’s name has been forgotten. Sound familiar? There’s also “an electromagnetic device intended to destroy the ocean” which again fits it with what has just happened in the finale of Season 5.

Rose – Shorter hair but it’s the same wise old Rose. Did anyone else get the feeling that she has an idea about what’s going on? She seemed a little bit defensive when Jack asked if she had seen Desmond. Maybe she knows how special Desmond has been in the past. Or maybe Desmond was never really there but she didn’t want to engage in his craziness. She also looked very happy. Is her cancer cured, or did it never happen?

Locke is the same old Locke unfortunately – Lying about what a great hunter-gatherer he is when we know that the people on the walkabout wouldn’t let him on the plane. Or did they? Ooooooohhhhh???

Hurley - In this alternate reality, Hurley is now the luckiest man alive and loves the money he has won. I’m guessing it’s because the island in this timeline has been destroyed so he never got a chance to use the numbers from the island to play on the lottery.

Kate – Still running. It seems as if she is still the same and is on the exact same path as before. Kate bores me. Zzzz. Next!

Sawyer – Sawyer seems less angry. Did he kill the real Sawyer in Australia. I’m guessing he wouldn’t have met Jacob in this time-line, therefore didn’t get the pen and the motivation to keep writing his letter. He seems a bit too nice if you ask me and I think he was eyeing up Hurley for a con.

Jin and Sun - Good news for Sun! The bomb didn’t go off so now she can get back with the old misogynistic Jin back who berates her in public for showing the slightest amount of flesh. Hooray! Were they still on the same timeline? Was Sun still going to leave Jin. No English! No English? Does this mean she never cheated on Jin?

The Cameos – It was good seeing Charlie back again, still in seemingly pissed off rock star mode as he tells Jack “I was supposed to die”. Yeah, choking on a bag of heroin without even getting the full benefits of shooting some up…great way to go! Boone was back, but without his sister which was a shame. But then again, I doubt she would have been able to wear her bikini on the plane so who cares! Charlie was on the same journey, but not Boone. Hmm, interesting. Claire came back in the end but we didn’t see if she was pregnant or not. Artz was back for a cameo as was “Froghurt”.

But you know who was missing? Michael and Walt. Not to mention Ecko, Anna-Lucia, the big gaping plot hole that is Libby. She was in a mental home with hurley and gave Desmond his boat for Christ sake! Is there not going to be even the slightest mention of that again? Maybe in this timeline those guys never get on the plane. Or maybe the producers couldn’t afford one too many cameos.

Another thing I’m liking about the sideways plot line, is that it is in keeping with the “Whatever happened, happened” theory. Things are destined to repeat themselves no matter what. There have been so many coincidences during the previous 5 seasons of lost. It looks like things are on a loop, and no matter what timeline or path the characters take, it is their destiny to meet each other. In this new, alternate timeline, we still have Jack and Desmond coming together. Boone and Locke still form a bond and he even says “if this thing crashes, I’m sticking with you”. The FBI agent still gets his head bashed in. Claire and Kate have still come together though we don’t yet know if this will involve Aaron. Though some people are special and can remember certain things, hence the déjà vu, while others just follow there designed scripts. Is this what the producers had intended the whole time? Or have they just been reading the imdb Lost forums and decided to pick whatever theory they though fit the best and decided to take the show in that direction for the final season?

Righto, briefly onto the on-island stuff.

Hurley – sees Jacob and he tells them where to go.

Juliet – dies AGAIN! Though she does have a Charlotte moment where she appears to be traveling through time as she is about to die. “We should get coffee…”. One thing I’m wondering here is that if she did set the bomb off and destroy the hatch, just like Desmond did at the end of Season 2, why has she been killed and Desmond wasn’t? Will she back in the future?

Miles – Still talking to the dead which I like to see. Tells Sawyer Juliet said “It worked!”. So is she a ghost floating around now?

We then come across another set of OTHERS. Yep, there are more others out there. These guys have no time for small talk and would have killed our group unless Hurley mentioned Jacob. This set of others seem far removed from the Dharma others that lived in the barracks. Do they even know of each other? What have they been doing this whole time? The guy with glasses looked a little like John Lennon, right? This group seem like an original set of others, but then Cindy the flight attendant is there so I am not too sure about that.

Hurley’s guitar case – we find out it was carrying an ankh, which is the symbol of eternal life. Inside is a note which pretty much says save Sayid.

Well, they didn’t do too good a job of that, as they actually drown him instead. It seemed weird, but I didn’t think jack did a very good job of trying to bring Sayid back to life. I remember in Season one he spent about 10 minutes trying to bring Charlie back, and he had been dead much longer than Sayid.

So, is Sayid really dead? Is he still the same Sayid? Is he Jacob? Was the hourglass used because that was the length of time someone has to be purged before they can be reborn? Is he Jacob? If he isn’t Jacob, what about these risks? Will he turn evil like Ben? I’m looking forward to finding out.

And last but not least, the scene with “Locke”. It was awesome seeing what most people had been theorizing, that this Locke/Man in black was in fact the smoke monster. He also tells us his motives. He simply wants to go home. Where is his home? We learned last year that the smoke monster lives in the temple and that it is a security system. This is puzzling, because once the others in the temple find out the man in black is back (I’m sure there is a song in there somewhere…), they go crazy and start laying down the black ash we saw at the cabin to protect themselves. Why has it now changed? I’m guessing that without a human form, he is controllable, like we saw with Ben in season 4. Maybe the temple is it’s home, and he wants it back.

Why couldn’t the smoke monster have done this before though? And was the man in black living in the cabin the whole time? If so, how did he become trapped with Ash in the cabin? When did he break out as he’s been flying around judging people for ages now. Who broke the ash circle? And if Ben and John have been looking for the cabin this whole time, does that mean it was the man in black, and not Jacob in there every time we have visited it?

More and more questions raised and not a lot of time left to answer them in. Some other thoughts/Questions

• Have all the flashbacks/forwards thus far been alternate realities also?
• Is it 2004?
• Is Jack’s cut on his neck real?
• How different from their original timeline is this flash sideways timeline for each character?
• Will we see Desmond, Rose, Bernard, Charlie and Boone again?
• Why do we still have the 2004-on island storyline? I like seeing the what might have happened storyline, but why are we still on the island if Juliet’s effort to blow up the bomb worked?

So, this season we have two realities existing side by side, but which one will prevail. I really can’t wait to see how they wrap everything up. Only 16 more episodes to go!

So, what do you all think? Any thoughts, discussions, ideas, suggestions? Agree with anything I’ve said? Disagree? Think I’m a full of sh…?

Peace.

Movie Review - Precious

By Dean Crawford

Now I am no stranger to a tough life. I was born on the mean streets of Canning Town, East London and subsequently moved to the even meaner leafy suburbs of Romford, Essex. We only had the one parking space each on my road. Times were tough. My school had a cap of 25 people per class and we could do as many extra curricular activities as we liked. Tines were hard. I remember one particular time when I was around 7 or 8, I had to endure a grueling 45 minute journey to Toys ‘R’ Us. It was so hot in that car, it was like torture. We finally arrived and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a new Leonardo from The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle’s. They sold out and I ended up getting a Raphael. How I despaired. Oh yes my friends, I thought I had it pretty rough growing up and one could argue that the song “Hard Knock Life” was written about me. That was until I saw the film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire.

Even though I knew a little bit about Precious before I went to see it, I was simply not prepared for this film at all. The film revolves around Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones. She is an illiterate 16 year old student who is currently pregnant with her second child by her own father. Her first child has Down’s syndrome. Precious is transferred to an “alternative school” and is surrounded by students who have problems of their own. With the help of inspirational teacher Miss. Rain, played by Paula Patton, she is encouraged to express herself through her writing, eventually learning to read and write whilst learning to better herself and become a good mother. But while all this goes on, there is everything else in her life that she has to deal with. People in the street abuse her because of her size. Her mother is angry with her because of the “relationship” with her father. She feels she instigated the molestation so treats her like a piece of dirt every chance she gets and is only concerned about her own well-being. Her mother beats and also molests Precious, and at one point tries to kill Precious and her new grandson. To top it all off, she finds out that her father has died of the AIDS virus and has infected her with HIV. Still with me?

First things first, despite the bleak nature of the film, Precious is a brilliantly acted piece that invites us to look at the more horrific aspects of our society head on and watch to see how one can deal with these atrocities. In a perverse way, Precious is a story of hope, of never giving in despite the odds, and shows us that with the right encouragement, anything is possible. Rather than let the cruel hand of fate decide her outcome, all Precious wants is to be able to read and write, so she can be a good mother to her children and this says a lot about the films moral message.

The performances are mesmerizing and it is no surprise that both Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe as Precious, and Mo’Nique as her mother, Mary, have been nominated for Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress respectively at the Oscars. Sidibe is wonderfully poignant as Precious, who has the weight of a world resting squarely on her face. Her weight will be brought up at most opportunities no doubt, but it is her body language and facial expressions that really allow you to feel her pain. She is like a cooped up ball of rage that is just waiting to explode, and it isn’t until one of the final scenes where she finally releases all this pent up aggression that you realize how good Sidibe is.

And no matter what you might think of her Oscar credentials compared to some other actresses, there is no doubt that in this role, Mo’Nique is brilliant. She is just so evil and disturbing as the mother. Every glance, every puff of her cigarette, every sneer just oozes hatred. Even though she just stood back as her partner raped and impregnated her daughter, and even though she beats and molests her own child, Mo’Nique brings a tiny amount of vulnerability to her performance that makes you feel sorry for Mary, if that is at all possible. There is a part of her character that let’s you realize that she is just as disturbed and upset as anyone else in the film. In some perverse way, she feels as if she is the victim and it was her daughter that took away her man. She is actually jealous that he wanted to have sex with her own daughter and that he gave her more children. Every time she looks at one of her grandchildren, she can’t help but feel hurt and rejected. For a split second, you too can almost feel her pain and feel sorry for her. This culminates in the final scene in which Maria Carey’s caseworker mediates a meeting with Mary and Precious. You’ll have to watch this scene for yourself, but I think it should win Mo’Nique the best supporting actress award. It is quite brilliant and you do feel for her. But then you take a step back, listen to what she is actually saying and remember for all her misgivings, she is still no better than the father as she molests and beats own her child. And after seeing how easily she can change her personality to deceive the welfare office, you fail to believe that anything she is saying could be real and her emotions are nothing but a lie.

Another positive to this film is the directing from Lee Daniels. I really appreciated what he did with the material, and how he tried to be original and extremely creative with his directing. Some might say it was flashy and over the top, but I thought it fit perfectly…but then I am a bit of a sucker for great visuals. For example, during Precious’ rape sequence, it could have been so easy to so easy to raise the camera to the sky to not get too involved. But instead we travel inside Precious’ mind and escape with her as she tries to blot out what is taking place. She imagines she’s a movie star signing autographs, or on-stage singing. Or at one point, beamed into a TV show where her mother speaks softly and lovingly. It doesn’t feel like flashy camera work for the sake of it. In only a few shots, and without showing too much, I thought the rape was one of the most harrowing scenes in the film. Precious wants to escape all her harrowing moments during the course of the film into highly stylized reality. So Lee Daniels takes us with her highly stylized way too. That’s not too say that the whole film is like that. There are certain moments where it almost feels like you are watching a documentary. I felt like Lee Daniels let the material dictate his style. His use of music is also another positive I took from the film. There are so many heart-breaking moments that are juxtaposed with hauntingly melodic childish tunes, it’s hard to know how you are supposed to feel.

One of the few negatives of Precious might be the fact that it is a little too onerous, or may seem over the top and unrealistic. You do get a sense watching the film, that there might just be a bit too much going on. She is raped by her dad, she is molested by her mother, has two children by her father, is beaten by her mother, is overweight and the list goes on. The author of the original novel “Push”, has stated that she was once a social worker, so put several stories into Precious, which is why it might seem a little full on for the sake of it. There were a few times a found myself thinking “whatever next?”. But that isn’t necessarily to say that these things don’t exist in one person’s life. Every one of her problems are a direct result of her fathers actions. So even though Precious’ situation might not be a common occurrence, it is by no means implausible.

You could talk for hours about Precious, with several other issues arising that could warrant essays by themselves. But ultimately it is a film which presents it’s viewer with a harsh look at a cruel and alien world. And if the film does feel over the top, or at times like it has become a little too difficult to watch, so what? Surely film as an art form has a duty to not only produce romantic tosh with pretty people (*COUGH* Valentines Day *COUGH*!!) or films that are made purely for money and the sequels (*COUGH* AVATAR *COUGH*!!!) but to challenge and stimulate debate. Surely film is there so we can look into the lives of others and be confronted head on with issues and subjects we wouldn’t necessarily get involved in. It forces us to have an opinion. Despite the harsh world Precious inhabits and the terrible life she leads, the film is still an allegory for hope. It’s about striving to succeed despite all the odds. It shows us that no matter what obstacles are put in front of you, you can still succeed. And if Clareece ‘Precious’ Jones can be positive and try to strive for a better life, surely anyone else out there can too.

Trailer - Four Lions

Four Lions tells the story of a group of British jihadists who push their abstract dreams of glory to the breaking point. As the wheels fly off, and their competing ideologies clash, what emerges is an emotionally engaging (and entirely plausible) farce. In a storm of razor-sharp verbal jousting and large-scale set pieces, Four Lions is a comic tour de force; it shows that-while terrorism is about ideology-it can also be about idiots. Written by Sundance Film Festival

This is directed by Chris "Brass Eye" Morris. He has a very twisted mind. I can't wait.

Trailer - Cemetary Junction

Here is the trailer for Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant's new film "Cemetary Junction".

Once thing you notice right away is the lack of jokes, which i think is a good thing. I think Ricky Gervais has been believing his own comedy hype a little too much recently, so it's nice to see him take a step back and let his writing, which is brilliant, do a bit more of the talking.

I think this looks ok. It looks like a throwback to the the kitchen sink era of great british filmmaking...just with much prettier people. As Ricky Gervais told Time Out ‘We wanted some of that blue-collar truth, but with good-looking people and good lighting.’'.

Well, you instantly lose some of that blue collar truth when you add pretty people and fake lights, but i'll come to that in another post...

Trailer - Cemetary Junction

Below is a Q&A session with Carlton Cuse and Damon Lindelof who answer a few questions regarding the premiere of Lost Season 6. Very interesting! But please do not read if you haven’t yet seen the premiere or do not want anything spoiled for you!!

EW: The whole idea of flash-sideways and the plan to use season 6 to show us a world where Oceanic 815 never crashed — how long has that been in the works? Why did you want to do it?
DAMON LINDELOF: It’s been in play for at least a couple of years. We knew that the ending of the time travel season was going to be an attempt to reboot. And as a result, we [knew] the audience was going to come out of the “do-over moment” thinking we were either going start over or just say it didn’t work and continue on. [We thought] wouldn’t it be great if we did both? That was the origin of the story.
CARLTON CUSE: We thought just doing one [of those options] would inherently not be satisfying. Since the very beginning of the show, characters started crossing through each other’s stories. Part of our desire [in season 6] is to show that there’s still this kind of weave, that these characters still would have impacted each other’s lives even without the event of crashing on the Island. Obviously, the big question of the season is going to be: How do these [two timelines] reconcile? However, for the fans who have not watched the show closely, that’s an intact narrative. You can just watch the flash sideways — they stand alone all by themselves. For the fans who are more deeply embedded in the show, you can watch those flash sideways, compare them to what transpired in the flashbacks and go, “Oh, that’s an interesting difference.”
LINDELOF: Right out of the gate, in the first five minutes of the premiere, you get hit over the head with two things that you’re not expecting. The first is that Desmond is on the plane. The second thing that we do is we drop out of the plane and we go below the water and we see that the Island is submerged. What we’re trying to do there is basically say to you, “God bless the survivors of Oceanic 815, because they’re so self-centered, they thought the only effect [of detonating the bomb] was going to be that their plane never crashes.” But they don’t stop to think, “If we do this in 1977, what else is going to affected by this?” So that their entire lives can be changed radically. In fact, it would appear that they’ve sunken the Island. That’s our way of saying, “Keep your eyes peeled for the differences that you’re not expecting.” Some of these characters were still in Australia, but some weren’t. Shannon’s not there. Boone actually says that he tried to get her back. There are all sorts of other people that we don’t see. Where’s Libby? Where’s Ana Lucia? Where’s Eko? These are all the things that you’re supposed to be thinking about. When our characters posited the “What if?” scenario, they neglected to think about what the other effects of potentially changing time might be and we’re embracing those things.

That said, are you saying definitively that detonating Jughead was the event that created this new timeline? Or is that a mystery which the season 6 story will reveal?
LINDELOF: It’s a mystery. A big one.
CUSE: We did have some concern that it might be confusing kind of going into the season. To clear that up a little bit: The archetypes of the characters are the same and that’s the most significant thing. Kate is still a fugitive. If you were to look at the Comic-Con video, for instance, that now comes into play. There was a different scenario in that story. She basically blew up an apprentice plumber as opposed to killing her biological father/stepfather. Those kind of differences exist, but who the characters fundamentally are is the same. If it becomes too confusing for you, you can just follow the flash sideways for what they are. It’s not as though there’s narrative that hangs on the fact that you need to know that this event was different in that world, in the flashback world versus the sideways world. That’s not critical for being able to process the narrative this season.

Is there a relationship between Island reality and sideways reality? Will they run parallel for the remainder of the season? Will they fuse together? Might one fade away?
LINDELOF: For us, the big risk that we’re taking in the final season of the show is basically this very question. [Lindelof then explains the show has replaced the trademark “whoosh!” sound effect marking the segue between Island present story and flashbacks or flash-forwards, thus calling conspicuous attention to the relationship between the Island world and the Sideways world.] This is the critical mystery of the season, which is, “What is the relationship between these two shows?” And we don’t use the phrase “alternate reality,” because to call one of them an “alternate reality” is to infer that one of them isn’t real, or one of them is real and the other is the alternate to being real.
CUSE: But the questions you’re asking are exactly the right questions. What are we to make of the fact that they’re showing us two different timelines? Are they going to resolve? Are they going to connect? Are they going to co-exist in parallel fashion? Are they going to cross? Do they intersect? Does one prove to be viable and the other one not? I think those are all the kind of speculations that are the right speculations to be having at this point in the season.
LINDELOF: But it is going to require patience. We’ve taught the audience how to be patient thus far, so while they’re getting a lot of mythological answers on the island early in the season, this idea of what is the relationship between the two [worlds] is a little bit more of a slow burn.

Did Jughead really sink the Island? And is it possible that the Sideways characters are now caught in a time loop in which they might have to go back in time and fulfill the obligation to continuity by detonating the bomb?
LINDELOF: These questions will be dealt with on the show. Should you infer that the detonation of Jughead is what sunk the island? Who knows? But there’s the Foot. What do you get when you see that shot? It looks like New Otherton got built. These little clues [might help you] extrapolate when the Island may have sunk. Start to think about it. A couple of episodes down the road, some of the characters might even discuss it. We will say this: season 6 is not about time travel. It’s about the implications, the aftermath, and the causality of trying to change the past. But the idea of continuing to do paradoxical storytelling is not what we’re interested in this year.

Have I been Lost without Lost

Have I been lost without Lost? A love letter…

by Dean Crawford


Oh Lost. Lost, Lost, Lost. You’ve been gone a long time old girl and I have missed you so much. 10 months and counting, in fact. At first I was afraid, I was petrified. Kept thinking I could never live without you by my side. I kept thinking to myself, “have I been lost without you?”. For five years we had been seeing each other on and off. Our relationship was eventful and intense. Even though we would spend a great deal of time together, you were always a complete mystery to me. Just when I thought I had you figured all out, you would flip our relationship on it’s head and keep me guessing.

Every year, like clockwork, you would leave me. But I didn’t mind as each time I knew you would come back. You always came back. But this last time you ended with me rather abruptly, and some would say rather unfairly. You just left me in a confused haze with so many unanswered questions. You would come to see me at all crazy times and wasn’t quite sure who you were supposed to be. You would constantly try to reinvent yourself and change your style. Were you this retro 70s chick, or were you from the here and now? You just couldn’t make up your mind so you left to decide once and for all who you really were. But sadly, this left me alone. I was all by myself and all I could do was think about our relationship. About specific incidents and how early on you would tell me one thing, but would actually mean something else. I constantly worried that on certain occasions you made me promises and laid the foundations and rules of our relationship, only for years later to pretend that never happened or you really meant something else. I wondered why I ever even started with you in the first place when you were clearly never going to live up to the expectations that I had for you. I now think you were making everything up as you went along just to keep me interested. You never really had any goals, nor had any ideas our relationship would lead us.

This last break up was the worst. I truly hated the way we finished. I thought we were heading in the same direction, but then you revealed a piece of your past to me that was going to affect our future and I didn’t like it. I didn’t like it one bit. But as ever, you presumed that I would just come running back. But a lot has changed since you’ve been gone my love. I have moved on. My Auntie, B.B.C, introduced me to somebody new, and her name was The Wire. I had heard a lot about her, and she seemed too good to be true. I mean, sure, I’d had a lot of quality partners in the past. The Sopranos were a tough bunch. At times things could get a little X-Rated and violent, but we always had a good time. It was my first relationship where I really felt like an adult. Then came 24, but she just ended up being a string of one-night stands. The intensity was too much too handle at times, but when we were together it was always fun. I’m not even sure what she is up to now anyway. I know she moved from L.A, to Washington. Last I heard she was in New York. Then there was Smallville who made me feel like a teenager again. But in the end, I found myself growing up and she wasn’t growing up with me so I had to leave. They were all great in their own special ways, so I didn’t see the point in emotionally investing myself in someone new so soon after my break up with you, Lost.

I spent a long time thinking about it, and eventually I decided to take Auntie’s advice to believe all the hype, bite the bullet and start another relationship. Even if it didn’t work out, I knew The Wire was only in England for an intensive short stay and would be leaving by the end of the autumn. When we went out on our first few dates I couldn’t stop thinking about you, Lost. Even though we were no longer together, I still felt like I was cheating on you. If the truth be told, I think I was only seeing The Wire to get over you. I didn’t want to get too involved so I was extremely cautious at the start, wary not to be taken for a fool. But with The Wire, something felt different.

At first, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I felt like I had made a mistake and wasted my time getting involved with someone else so soon. Sure, she was intelligent, witty, funny and the like. But it just felt like something was missing. However, as the seasons passed something began to change. The Wire was intelligent and started treating me like an adult. The Wire didn’t keep repeating itself in an effort to keep my attention. There were no flashy gimmicks, no tricks. Nothing was drawn out. Everything felt fresh and vibrant. The Wire would just be herself and if I liked it, great. If not, tough. We would see each other three or four times a week but The Wire really took it’s time with me. It really got to know me and I know her. No longer was I being brought to the brink on every date, only to be teased into an anti climax and told to wait until the next date. She wouldn’t leave me hanging over the proverbial cliff. She respected me as a person, and respected my intelligence and this made me want to see her even more. The Wire was incredibly complex and complicated, and once I had figured her out, it was the best thing that had ever happened to me. We would have some real in depth conversations and I really had to pay attention to her. There was no filler on our dates. Everything she said was for a reason. So we took things slowly at first and gradually we picked up the pace until we really got in our groove and eventually we reached a wholly satisfying, full on climax. Was the hype justified? You bet it was. I had never been with anyone like The Wire before. And just like that, after 5 months, The Wire was gone. It cut like a knife, but she was out of my life. However, I had the time of my life, and I owed it all to The Wire. Lost, you were the last thing on my mind. I felt free. Grown up. Mature. I could finally think about making a new start.

But now you’re back from outer space. I just walked in to find you here with that sad look upon your face. I should have changed that stupid lock! I should have made you leave your key if I had known for just one second you would be back to bother me. I’ve decided that I’m not going to get involved with you anymore. I’ve grown up and don’t need a tease like you in my life. Go on. GO! Get out of here!

Ok, Wait. Wait, wait, wait. Don’t go! Don’t walk out that door. I know I’m crazy for thinking this, but maybe, just maybe this time will be different. Maybe you were just making it seem like you were B.S’ing your way through our relationship. Maybe you do really have an answer for all those little mysteries you introduced me too. Maybe this time you will quit playing games with my heart. Maybe it was my fault for reading into things you said a little too much. Maybe, just when I thought our chance had past you’d gone and save the best for last. Yes, that’s it! Let’s let nature decide and try for one more season. Come on Baby, one more time! Maybe then you will give me all the answers I need to fully understand you and it will be true love after all.

How about we meet up on Tuesday? Say 9pm? Or if you’d prefer, we could do England? Next Sunday at the same time? Yes? Great! Oh, Lost. How I’ve missed you so. You’re just too good to be true. I can’t take my eyes off of you. Oh, I’m just so excited and I just can’t hide it. I know this may sound like a bit of a cliché, but I really have been lost without you.

Let’s get it on…

For those of you who loved Avatar….BEWARE!

I only heard about this story today and was amazed by it. Thought it was strange enough to share.

(taken from CNN.com)

CNN) — James Cameron’s completely immersive spectacle “Avatar” may have been a little too real for some fans who say they have experienced depression and suicidal thoughts after seeing the film because they long to enjoy the beauty of the alien world Pandora.

On the fan forum site “Avatar Forums,” a topic thread entitled “Ways to cope with the depression of the dream of Pandora being intangible,” has received more than 1,000 posts from people experiencing depression and fans trying to help them cope. The topic became so popular last month that forum administrator Philippe Baghdassarian had to create a second thread so people could continue to post their confused feelings about the movie.

“I wasn’t depressed myself. In fact the movie made me happy ,” Baghdassarian said. “But I can understand why it made people depressed. The movie was so beautiful and it showed something we don’t have here on Earth. I think people saw we could be living in a completely different world and that caused them to be depressed.”

A post by a user called Elequin expresses an almost obsessive relationship with the film.

“That’s all I have been doing as of late, searching the Internet for more info about ‘Avatar.’ I guess that helps. It’s so hard I can’t force myself to think that it’s just a movie, and to get over it, that living like the Na’vi will never happen. I think I need a rebound movie,” Elequin posted.

A user named Mike wrote on the fan Web site “Naviblue” that he contemplated suicide after seeing the movie.

“Ever since I went to see ‘Avatar’ I have been depressed. Watching the wonderful world of Pandora and all the Na’vi made me want to be one of them. I can’t stop thinking about all the things that happened in the film and all of the tears and shivers I got from it,” Mike posted. “I even contemplate suicide thinking that if I do it I will be rebirthed in a world similar to Pandora and the everything is the same as in ‘Avatar.’ “

Other fans have expressed feelings of disgust with the human race and disengagement with reality.

Cameron’s movie, which has pulled in more than $1.4 billion in worldwide box office sales and could be on track to be the highest grossing film of all time, is set in the future when the Earth’s resources have been pillaged by the human race. A greedy corporation is trying to mine the rare mineral unobtainium from the planet Pandora, which is inhabited by a peace-loving race of 10-foot tall, blue-skinned natives called the Na’vi.

In their race to mine for Pandora’s resources, the humans clash with the Na’vi, leading to casualties on both sides. The world of Pandora is reminiscent of a prehistoric fantasyland, filled with dinosaur-like creatures mixed with the kinds of fauna you may find in the deep reaches of the ocean. Compared with life on Earth, Pandora is a beautiful, glowing utopia.

Ivar Hill posts to the “Avatar” forum page under the name Eltu. He wrote about his post-“Avatar” depression after he first saw the film earlier this month.

“When I woke up this morning after watching Avatar for the first time yesterday, the world seemed … gray. It was like my whole life, everything I’ve done and worked for, lost its meaning,” Hill wrote on the forum. “It just seems so … meaningless. I still don’t really see any reason to keep … doing things at all. I live in a dying world.”

Reached via e-mail in Sweden where he is studying game design, Hill, 17, explained that his feelings of despair made him desperately want to escape reality.

“One can say my depression was twofold: I was depressed because I really wanted to live in Pandora, which seemed like such a perfect place, but I was also depressed and disgusted with the sight of our world, what we have done to Earth. I so much wanted to escape reality,” Hill said.

Cameron’s special effects masterpiece is very lifelike, and the 3-D performance capture and CGI effects essentially allow the viewer to enter the alien world of Pandora for the movie’s 2½-hour running time, which only lends to the separation anxiety some individuals experience when they depart the movie theater.

“Virtual life is not real life and it never will be, but this is the pinnacle of what we can build in a virtual presentation so far,” said Dr. Stephan Quentzel, psychiatrist and Medical Director for the Louis Armstrong Center for Music and Medicine at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York. “It has taken the best of our technology to create this virtual world and real life will never be as utopian as it seems onscreen. It makes real life seem more imperfect.”

Fans of the movie may find actor Stephen Lang, who plays the villainous Col. Miles Quaritch in the film, an enemy of the Na’vi people and their sacred ground, an unlikely sympathizer. But Lang says he can understand the connection people are feeling with the movie.

“Pandora is a pristine world and there is the synergy between all of the creatures of the planet and I think that strikes a deep chord within people that has a wishfulness and a wistfulness to it,” Lang said. “James Cameron had the technical resources to go along with this incredibly fertile imagination of his and his dream is built out of the same things that other peoples’ dreams are made of.”

The bright side is that for Hill and others like him — who became dissatisfied with their own lives and with our imperfect world after enjoying the fictional creation of James Cameron — becoming a part of a community of like-minded people on an online forum has helped them emerge from the darkness.

“After discussing on the forums for a while now, my depression is beginning to fade away. Having taken a part in many discussions concerning all this has really, really helped me,” Hill said. “Before, I had lost the reason to keep on living — but now it feels like these feelings are gradually being replaced with others.”

Quentzel said creating relationships with others is one of the keys to human happiness, and that even if those connections are occurring online they are better than nothing.

“Obviously there is community building in these forums,” Quentzel said. “It may be technologically different from other community building, but it serves the same purpose.”

Within the fan community, suggestions for battling feelings of depression after seeing the movie include things like playing “Avatar” video games or downloading the movie soundtrack, in addition to encouraging members to relate to other people outside the virtual realm and to seek out positive and constructive activities.”

It’s pretty messed up if you ask me. The fact that some people are contemplating suicide in the belief that they might be reborn seems absurd to me. But then i do remember people watching horror films and blaming them for their actions. These films were subsequently BANNED! Can’t see that happening with the mega money juggernaut that is Avatar.

There seems to be something fishy going on with Avatar and i wouldn’t be surprised if there were some sort of subliminal messaging going on between those 3D lines. I mean, sure, Avatar looked great, but it’s not THAT good. I certainly can’t believe that it is now the highest grossing film of all time in such a short space of time.

Any thoughts? Post a comment…